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Click here for two new articles on silver colors and silver conditioning.
What is a Silver?
The Silver is a rare breed of rabbit with striking looks,
unique temperaments, and a proud history. It is a small breed, with showroom weights of 4-7 pounds for seniors, 6 pounds being
ideal. A four-class breed, silvers are recognized by the American Rabbit Breeders’ Association, Inc, in three varieities:
Black, Brown, and Fawn. Black provides the greatest contrast to the silvering. The fawn color beautifully combines silver
and gold. The brown is a handsome chestnut. Silvers are of medium length and bone. The topline should rise from the base of
the ears to the center of the hips before falling in a smooth curve to the tail. A silver head should balance with the upright-carried
ears and the body. A dewlap is a disqualification in silvers. Silvers have very short, snappy flyback coats. However the most
important feature of silvers is the silvering.
SILVERING!
The silvering that gives the breed its name is the most important feature in the silver standard,
with 50 points, out of a total of 100, allotted to color and silvering. The silvering is an abunance of white guard hairs
throughout the coat. The silver gene is a recessive gene, and it actually causes the pigment to be stripped from certain hairs,
making them appear white. The standard does not give an ideal degree of silvering. However it must be as even and as bright
as possible, giving the maximum contrast against the base color. Evenness is more important than the degree of silvering.
The silver hairs should be evenly spaced without clumping. The head, ears, feet, legs, and tail should be as evenly
silvered as the body.
White spots anywhere on a rabbit is a disqualification from competition. The most common places
for white spots is the nose or toes. White toenails are also a disqualification. Silvering is not as evident on browns due
to the black ticking that is also present. Silvering is most noticible on blacks.
Getting started in Silvers
Silvers may not be the best breed for the new rabbit owner or the small child, but for the experienced
looking for a breed that will challenge him and add beauty to his barn, silvers are ideal! They are athletic, and rather strong
rabbits, but they are as a general rule not agressive rabbits. They do best in larger cages, with room to move around. Silvers
should be fed about one ounce of feed per pound of body weight per day, but adjust the feed to fit the needs of the idividual
rabbit.
Silvers are one of the most rare breeds in the United States. Therefore, finding that original
pair may be difficult. However if you do some research, it is out there to be found! Don’t give up--It will be worth
it.
Breeding and Showing
If there is a breed where every litter is a joy, where every kit is unique, and where it is
exciting to watch every baby grow up--that breed is the silver. Silvers can be a challenging and a gratifying breed to raise.
Litters of 6-8 are most common, but anywhere from 3-10 kits per litter is not un-heard of. Kits are born solid colored and
begin to show silvering at approximatley 3 weeks of age. Wathing a baby silver out--from the bottom up--is one of the many
moments that makes raising silvers worth while!
A commonly asked question about silvers is “Can I cross varieities?” Many people
will give you different answers on this. Some breeders do cross varieities; others would never think of it. There are those
who will not buy a silver if it has more than one color behind it, so take that into consideration. When crossing varieites,
unshowable colors such as tortoise can appear in the litters. But the choice is yours.
Showing Silvers is just a lot of fun! You will get a lot of looks, a lot of questions, and a
lot of admirers! Silvers are a very interesting breed to discuss with judges, as most judges do not handle a lot of them.
Talk to the judges. You will learn about your breed, and you may end up teaching the judge some! Silvers are a posed breed--not
a running breed. To evaluate type they should be posed with the front feet under the eyes and the hind feet under the hips,
but do not push the silver up at all. Regardless, some judges may run them, others may just run them to evaluate the evenness
of silvering, which would be acceptable.
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